johnscars

Lyle, Great job of pulling so much info together and framing the 2 starting points. since you asked, I'll spout The growth of the growth of administration (popping way up in the 90's) is so huge (and $ consuming) that it begs/deservers more detailed investigation and explanation. The Health Care Infrastructure illustration showing the finite resources does not appear to include the army of adnimistrators, insurance companies... There is no mention of the previous business models that did not have such rampant runaway costs annually (community hospotals...) And the fact that nurses spend 19 hrs per week on admin is burried. If money is time, where is the time going today as opposed to pre 90's? What are the factors that are driving up the costs? Can they be listed and the beneficiaries be identified. That leads back to the 3rd page with the uncle sam poster. You might be able to find graphics that better support your write-up about the money/interests that will be spent to shape/bend/warp the debate. Maybe a (collection of) Cartoons of lobbiests, politicians in their pockets, consumers, Maybe a list of insurance company manes, medical device manufacturers, managed care facilities,... I don't remember seeing anything on Medicare, and how it is a single payer plan. thAnd its role in our health care system. Since for most workers (_%) it covers us when employer sponsored plans have ended, and we are at our most needy for med care. I like the tie in to the direct impact this has on our industries uncompetitive costs of production, And recommend adding some specifics. I also like the use of the cartoon graphic of the auto(US) crushed by the apple of health care costs. But I think the point you make in beneath it begs to be screamed out "IF THE VAST MAJORITY OF NEW JOBS GROWTH ARE GOING TO BE IN SMALL BUSINESSES, THEN WE BETTER HAVE A HEALTH CARE SYSTEM THAT KEYS ON SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESS." I heard an author on NPR discussing the high relative cost differences in McAllen, Tx vs. Mayo clinic and the level of care received. The terms defensive medicine came up often, but so did the fact that the Drs were being paid to send patients to expensive treatments (some owned by the Drs. Conflicts of interest were not disclosed, shopping for price is not done in this biz - it has been killed over the years, because we trust our drs. And now we find out about the range of conflicts of interest. Can you include a list of the types of conflicts of interests in the system, and a list of the costs of procedures, and how profitable they are? Can you, huh, can you? And today I saw an article about the Per center blind review of the ethics codes of our Med Schools, and that some do a really good job of trying to keep the branded pharmas and their influence out of the students faces, so they can focus on the science of patient care, not hte profit. Maybe there is some hope. Thanks for the opportunity to rant. By the way, this year I've had some pretty good health care recently. but wow is it expensive! And it is ammazing what is not covered the way my insurance co slices and dices every event and puts deductables on each part of the process and for each member of the family. My daughter had a really bad headache one day. Her primary sent her for an MRI my out-of-pocket was over $500. Scoping my knee cost $-,000, and a Hernia set me back big time. And I pay $1140 per month not including dental or vision or... so I'm really glad you are working on explaining this. Thanks again -John